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W5 - Descriptive Representation - Do Gender Quotas Work? (Women's…
W5 - Descriptive Representation - Do Gender Quotas Work?
Gender Quotas.
Do Quotas Work / Critical Mass.
Quotas Design
- quota size; placement on party listen (1M,2F in Belgium); sanctions for non-compliance.
Electoral System
- PR x Quotas and you'll do well (Scandinavian model).
International Norms / Political Parties.
• Women are not likely to have a major impact on legislative outcomes (public policy) until they grow from a few token individuals into a considerable minority of all legislators’ (cited in Childs&Krook 2008)
Kanter: Minorities can then influence by forming coalitions and affect culture; minority members become individuals differentiated from each other; impact limited unless representatives feel aligned with their supposed group.
Dahlerup
- supportive alliances; 30% of women the difference; critical mass is mechanism for chance (ie. recruitment of other women).
Critiques
: political party affiliation; institutional norms; legislative inexperience; electoral systems; critical actors (Childs and Krook); substantive representation.
Effectiveness - Case of Poland.
Quotas since '11; 35% minimum for women and men; sanction for non-compliance is high
Best quotas: high sanctions for non-compliance, placement mandates and a high quota size.
Representation is only good in the lower chamber as higher uses majoritarian system; higher female candidates but not deputies.
First election after quotas ('11) saw Civic Platform rise to 34% from 23% of women.
Institutions (electoral system/style of quota) and priorities of parties matter most.
Types.
• Gender quotas are measures aiming to enhance women’s access to elected office. Most quotas are formal yet some are informal (voluntary).
• Gender quotas are ‘legal reforms, which require political parties to nominate between 25 and 50 per cent of women candidates’ (Krook et al. 2009, 795).
Legislative (legislated) gender quotas.
Legal, formal institutional requirement that political parties should have a certain number of candidates on party lists.
Party quotas
. Formal and informal – depends. Some parties decide to add some regulations / formal quotas on the number of women. Yet some parties have informal agreements to appoint women, normally coined by the leader.
Reserved seats.
A certain percentage of seats are guaranteed for women.
Descriptive Representation.
Benefits.
• Role models (see Philips 1995 in Krook&Childs 2010). They set precedent and create a new norm, hoping to one day become a universally accepted norm.
• Justice principle (see Philips 1995 in Krook&Childs 2010). Everybody should have equal rights and political rights – it is about equal justice.
• Representing interests of women that would be otherwise overlooked (Mansbridge 1999; Philips 1995). Women are aware, descriptively, of one another’s interests as they have a personal physical connection to the community they wish to represent. They’re not equal, but they’re similar in enough ways to know their group’s interests.
• Different styles and ways of dealing with politics (see Philips 1995 in Krook&Childs 2010). Women bring with them a different strategy for politics; enhancing quality of debate; variety and sophistication of arguments given.
• The increased legitimacy of the polity by making citizens and particularly members of historically underrepresented groups feel as if they themselves were present in the deliberations. Mutual acceptance and responsibility. A created policy is more legitimate if everybody is responsible in its creation.
• It increases trust: descriptive representatives are necessary when marginalized groups distrust members of a dominant group (Mansbridge 1999).
• It influences policy change (see the critical mass argument, Dahlerup 1988). There will be more policies supporting women’s interests if more women are involved in the policy process.
Advocates.
Anne Philips (1995) makes a strong argument for the ‘politics of presence’ where improvements in the descriptive representation of excluded groups improve representation. Justice principle / legitimacy of system / trust.
Jane Mansbridge (1999) and Melisa Williams (1998) argue that the parliamentary presence of women and ethnic minorities enhances the representativeness of an assembly both symbolically and substantively.
Scholars supporting the ‘critical mass’ argument (e.g. Dahlerup 1988) also support descriptive representation.
Opponents.
• Kymlicka: ‘the general idea of mirror [descriptive representation] is untenable (1995, 139).
• Young: ‘Having such a relation of identity or similarity with constituents says nothing about what the representative does’ (1997, 354).
• Both suggest: a descriptive likeness doesn’t guarantee that policies promoting the interests of these groups will be adopted. It tells us little about what policy stance that person will make (similar to critical actors idea, ie. sometimes men support women’s policies).
Factors Affecting...
Women's Parliamentary Representation.
Europe: '50s, most countries below 10% (except Finland). 60s/70s wave of feminism saw push to increase.
80s (Denmark/Netherlands/Sweden) and 90s (intl' norms) saw increase.
Finland
- suffrage movement early, historical precedent means they succeed without need for quotas.
Denmark
- no feminist party of legislative quotas but gender-equal culture like Finland. Strong feminist movements in 70s pushed change and big improvement seen in 80s.
Greece and Croatia
- Bad quota design with small monetary sanctions for non-compliance, quota size and placement mandates.
Ireland
- New to quotas so should improve.
Slovenia
- at 24% now but down from 33%?!
Factors Affecting Descriptive Representation.
Formal.
Electoral systems (e.g. Lijphart 1999; Norris 2006). Majoritarian yield less women, PR yield more.
Gender quotas. Most quotas are legally guaranteed or are in constitution, therefore formal institutions.
Informal.
Cultural factors (e.g. Dahlerup 2006). Both social and political culture – either gender equal or traditional.
Women’s organizations (e.g. Praud 2012). Countries with strong feminist movements will have higher levels of female representation, pressuring government to either use gender quotas or to be more open to female candidates.
Political parties (e.g. Kittilson 1999). Main gatekeepers to political parties – make huge difference. Some open to women candidates, some aren’t. Left and socialist/green parties (stronger links with feminist parties, which lead to female candidates) vs. Liberal and conservative parties.
International norms (Council of Europe, EU, UN). In the 90s/early 00s, the issue of women’s representation became an international issue (UN/EU). UN Women’s Conference in the 90s.